Back in the Day - June 26: 1994: Wanaque boy scalded in freak transformer explosion

A convoy of about 20 tractor trailers was broken up by New Jersey State Police during the morning rush hour of Friday, June 22, 1979. The drivers of the trucks were attempting to slow traffic on Route 23 South by operating under the speed limit in protest of the national gas shortage.

The convoy started in the Newfoundland section of West Milford. Troopers intercepted the convoy in Butler and told the drivers to disperse. The truckers agreed they would, but did not as soon as the police left. The slow convoy continued down the highway at speeds as slow as 15 miles per hour.

Motorists waited in snakelike lines at gas stations all over the area for hours just hoping to get maybe half-a-tank. An odd-even system was being employed wherein motorists whose license plates ended in even numbers could only get gas on even-numbered dates, and vice versa.